1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a connector, and particularly relates to a connector which is, first, temporarily fixed at a front edge of a printed-circuit board and then passed through a reflow oven for being mounted on the front edge of the printed-circuit board with its terminals soldered on pads provided on the printed-circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, a connector is known which connector is mounted on a front edge of a printed-circuit board with terminals being soldered on respective pads provided on the printed-circuit board and the connector protruding from the front edge of the printed-circuit board. The connector of this kind is temporarily fixed on the front edge of the printed-circuit board and then passed through a reflow oven for being mounted on the front edge of the printed-circuit board with its terminals soldered on pads provided on the printed-circuit board. In order to solder all of the terminals on the pads provided on the printed-circuit board with comparatively good reliability, it is required that the temporary fixing of the connector to the front edge of the printed-circuit board be achieved in a completely secure manner. Also, with regard to manufacturing efficiency, it is required that the connector be temporarily fixed on the front edge of the printed-circuit board with a comparatively high efficiency.
FIG. 1A is a perspective diagram showing a connector 10 of the related art together with the printed-circuit board 11. The connector 10 is provided with a connector main body 12 and a plurality of terminal members 13 assembled to the connector main body 12. The connector main body 12 is provided with arm parts 14 and 15 provided on respective ends of the connector main body 12. The arm parts 14 and 15 are provided with downward hook parts 16 and 17, respectively. The printed-circuit board 11 is provided with notch parts 21, 22 provided on respective side edges. The notch parts 21, 22 are placed at positions near a front edge 20 and correspond to the arm parts 14, 15 and hook parts 16, 17. Reference numerals 23 and 24 indicate supporting parts provided between the front edge 20 and the notch parts 21, 22, respectively.
FIGS. 1B to 1D are diagrams showing the connector 10 in a connected state in which the connector 10 is protruded out of the front edge 20 of the printed-circuit board 11. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the hook parts 16, 17 are fitted in the notch parts 21, 22 and the arm parts 14, 15 are supported by the supporting parts 23, 24. As shown in FIG. 1D, each of the terminal members 13 includes a projected portion 13a projecting backwards from the connector main body 12. The projected portions 13a are soldered to respective pads 25 by solder 26.
The projected portions 13a are soldered on the pads 25 with the hook portions 16, 17 being fitted into the notch parts 21, 22. In other words, the connector 10 is temporarily fixed on the printed-circuit board 11.
The temporarily fixed state of the connector 10 is a state where the hook parts 16, 17 are simply fitted into the notch parts 21, 22. Therefore, if there is any looseness between the hook parts 16, 17 and the notch parts 21, 22, the connector 10 will tilt downwards, and, thus, the projected portions 13a will come off the pads 25, as shown in FIG. 2. This results in an unsuccessful soldering of the projected portions 13a and the pads 25 during a reflow process. Therefore, the reliability of the soldering process will be decreased.
In order to prevent the above-described problem, a dimensional accuracy of the hook parts 16, 17 and the notch parts 21, 22 may be improved. Then, because the hook parts 16, 17 and the notch parts 21, 22 will tightly fit together, the tilting of the connector 10 with respect to the printed-circuit board 11 may be suppressed. However, with such a structure, it is rather difficult to fit the hook parts 16, 17 into the notch parts 21, 22, so that it is also difficult to temporarily fit the connector 10 on the printed-circuit board 11.